I am writing this article from my very own shopping experience in Myeong Dong, Seoul . I find it really amusing to...

I am writing this
article from my very own shopping experience in Myeong Dong, Seoul.
I find it really amusing to be writing this because right before I fly, I was
telling my boyfriend how unlikely I’ll be shopping here because I was in Bangkok
just 3 days before this Korea trip. I am also thankfully a beauty blogger, so
theoretically I am not lacking any cosmetics nor skincare. But lo and behold, I
was like any other girls who probably would never find themselves having too
many cosmetics… Basically, #ILostControl in the heaven of cosmetics in Myeong
Dong! :P

So let’s see, I barely
had a few days in Korea because some of the days during the trip I was on a
tour (K Shuttle by US Travels), and two days I was in Busan. Despite the
shortage of time here in Seoul, I still manage to visit Myeong Dong a grand
total of 3 times on three different days! Athough this is partly cos my hotel
in Seoul was only 15 minutes walk away from Myeong Dong, I still love how much
Myeong Dong can offer me (based on shopping and food of course).

Before you ask, what is Myeong Dong?

Myeong Dong is one of
the most popular shopping districts in Seoul, Korea. You can find lots of beauty
brands, luxury brands and even departmental stores here in Myeong Dong. I would
say the price range can be $$ to $$$.

How to get to Myeong Dong

Alight at Myeong-dong Station, Subway Line No.4, Exit
#6

Euljiro 1-ga Station, Subway Line 2 (4 minutes) Exit #6

***

Myeong Dong is
amazing. Both my travel companion a.k.a roommate, Dina and I agree that Myeong
Dong is like a cosmetics & skincare heaven. Beauty stores like Etude House,
Nature Republic, ARITAUM and Olive young are lined up along the streets and
they appear so frequently, you can have the same beauty brand appearing just a
stone’s throw away from each other lol.

Aside from your popular
trusty beauty brands’ flagship stores, they also have beauty stores that house
a few brands together. Here’s a list of them, but the list is definitely non-exhaustive:

Beauty Brands:

Etude House

Nature Republic

TheFaceShop

TheBodyShop

Innisfree

Skinfood

Tony Moly

Holika Holika

The SAEM

MISSHA

Clio

Beauty Stores:

ARITAUM (Amore Pacific
brands like LANEIGE, Sulwahsoo)

Watsons

Olive Young

With one of the best travel companions on this trip!

So as you can tell,
Myeong Dong has ABUNDANT beauty stores and brand, your heart will literally
fly away the moment you step into this crazy shopping district. Here’s some of
the things you may want to know about shopping in Myeong Dong:

1. You can get TAX-FREE claims

Simply tell the
cashier that you want to have tax-free privileges and they’ll issue you the
receipt and keep in a nice paper envelope for you. However, there’s a certain
amount to hit and for most of the stores, It’s usually only 30,000 KRW (which
is ~SGD37).

However, I do warn
that claiming taxes at the airport can be really troublesome and not
economically worth it if you’re not buying very high-value items. I spent
really lot of cosmetics and the amount I could claim from tax-free global was
barely SGD30, so I thought it wasn’t worth the hassle.

In case you are
unaware, to claim your taxes, you have to:

Check in at the
counter but not luggage > bring your luggage to the tax-free claiming counter
> open up your luggage for them to see the items you bought > get a stamp
> bring back to the counter to check in your luggage. Yep, make sure it's at
least some amount of money that is worth such effort needed!

2. Some service staff do speak Chinese

I apologise for the
non-chinese speaking shoppers for this. The reason why they have Chinese-
speaking staff is because most of the tourists here in Korea come from China,
so that explains why. It’s definitely more convenient to be able to speak to
someone using a common language and get to understand how a product works
before blindly purchasing them.

Unfortunately, some of
the Koreans do not really speak very good English so it can go quite frustrating
when you want to ask about a product. Usually people already know what they
want to get, and if the Korean staff can’t speak good English, they’ll usually
use a calculator to tell you the price. So, all is well!

3. They actually lure you in to the shops with
free masks (HAHHA)

Sorry for the haha
behind but it’s an inside joke between me and my friends. When we feel like
taking that one free mask, we would actually enter the shop even though we had no
intention to buy anything, but ended up buying trivial items like nail polish..
-.- Nonetheless, I’ve not tried taking the free mask without buying anything,
but apparently my friend has done it before and she manage to leave the place
la haha. I would feel bad if I don’t get anything, so I got nail polishes
instead (3,000-5,000 KRW, around SGD4-7 per bottle).

4. There are both expensive and cheap stuff

It depends on how you
shop, and how well can you find treasures. Of course, you too pay for what you
get.

I notice the facemask
from Nature Republic uses really good quality mask sheets, but not so much for
TheFaceShop’s face masks.. Of course, the price can differ a lot, so let’s just
say each to her own!

Bags can also go from
really expensive to really cheap at 10,000 KRW (~SGD12). I got a huge
backpack with decent quality at only 10,000 KRW! I can put so many things,
including my laptop inside, woohoo!

5. Look out for unbelievably cheap items

It’s not a secret that
cosmetics and skincare in Korea are very cheap, since that is where they come
from. But you might not know that some items can be crazily cheap because they can
go on a one-for-one promotion, of 50% discount! If you happen to be shopping with
friends, you might get to enjoy even cheaper price tags just by sharing! So my
tip is to look out for incredible promotions and especially those one-for-one!

For example, my all
time favourite Thefaceshop sunscreen cost SGD 28.90 in Singapore, SGD17.90 in
Singapore DFS, but 16,900 KRW in Korea AND was on one-for-one, so that makes it
16,900/2 = ~8450 KRW = ~SGD10!!! HOLY CRAP.

This meal was only 8000 KRW (~S$10)

6. Food might be slightly more expensive here

My suggestion is to
get out of Myeong Dong area for food. Simply walk out of Myeong Dong for barely
5 mins and you can easily find local eateries along the main road. They are
very affordable and yummy, quite a safe bet.

I also noticed that the
street food are more prominent in the night scene and not so much during the
day. You’ll find toppoki, Nutella banana crepe cake and many local street food.

7. There are lockers at Myeong Dong Station

Congratulations! There’s
practically nothing to stop you from shopping now! Fear not if you have to lug
your luggage around if you have not checked in, or you’re leaving Seoul to
other cities in Korea. There are lockers in Myeong Dong station as identified
in the photo.

8. Prepare a shopping list

You may find it useful
and more efficient if you already have a shopping list on hand before you shop
in Myeong Dong. Some of my girlfriends in this trip with me actually have a
list of things they want so they practically head in, get the stuff and get
out. They saved a lot of time and in some sense didn’t get caught into buying
more random stuff like I did :P

It will also be useful
if your friends can tell you what they want so that you can compile them into a
list, likewise to plan your expenses.

9. Do not overspend at one go and at one place

Here’s an advice from
my roommate, Dina, who seldom shops for cosmetics but went so excited with me
as we shopped together: Do not immediately buy all the things you saw for the
first time. There are many chances for you to get the same item elsewhere, so
don’t do impulse buy. You shouldn’t also spend all your money only at one place
so as to enjoy your whole trip.

10. Bring a huge shopping bag/backpack

You won’t know how
much you would be buying, but having a big bag to contain all your purchases is surely better than carrying many small little bags of stuff. Guess it’s
self-explanatory ;)

And that's about it! Hope this Myeong Dong Shopping Guide would be useful to you and feel free to share with all the happy ladies out there! Once again a huge thanks to KTO Singapore for making this trip possible, Caro for taking such good care of us and leaving me an absolutely happy girl with all my shopping loots.... next up, probably some shopping haul? :D I will also be doing a simple travel guide to Korea, so stay tuned for it!

Celine Chiam is a Singapore Lifestyle, Beauty and Fashion blogger. Welcome to her world of beauty reviews, travelogues and every day tips! She's on #dayre (@chiamhuiy) and instagram (@chiamhuiy) as well.